Ridiculously Epic and Dramatic Intro Music for my Show

??? · 05-03-2009 2:22am #1

I am performing a psychological illusion show in three weeks (see magic and illusion boards for details!) and need epic and dramatic intro music. The sort of stuff I'm looking at is:

O Fortuna
Requiem for a Dream Theme
Dies Irae (Karl whatshisname, songs of sancturary guy)
Promontory

That sort of thing. Can anyone suggest some other pieces to look into? The person who suggests the one I use gets credited as musical director on the program that I won't ever make!

NOTE: I have dismissed a few things for having such abstract qualities as "Too much hope" and "not enough bass" so it's gotta be deep, dark and brooding!

darjeeling · 05-03-2009 2:46am

??? wrote: »

I am performing a psychological illusion show in three weeks (see magic and illusion boards for details!) and need epic and dramatic intro music. The sort of stuff I'm looking at is:
O Fortuna

Requiem for a Dream Theme

Dies Irae (Karl whatshisname, songs of sancturary guy)

Promontory

That sort of thing. Can anyone suggest some other pieces to look into? The person who suggests the one I use gets credited as musical director on the program that I won't ever make!

NOTE: I have dismissed a few things for having such abstract qualities as "Too much hope" and "not enough bass" so it's gotta be deep, dark and brooding!

For starters:
Verdi - Dies Irae from theRequiem
Mussorgsky - A Night on Bare Mountain
Shostakovich - Symphony 5, last movement (beginning).
Bruckner Symphony 9, 2nd movement
Bach - Toccata in d minor for organ

banquo · 05-03-2009 6:18pm

Handel - Arrival of the Queen of Sheba

(heh)

darjeeling · 05-03-2009 7:11pm

banquo wrote: »

Handel - Arrival of the Queen of Sheba

(heh)

Terrifying stuff! As laden with doom and foreboding as, well, an episode of The Antiques Roadshow :eek: (on which note, I advise you see this).

Back to portentousness, Holst's Planets Suite has plenty to offer: have a listen to Saturn and Uranus (serendipitously subtitled 'the Magician'), and especially Mars for its unremitting grimness. Everyone knows Wagner's Ride of the Valkryies (from its appearance as musical napalm in Apocalypse Now), but less so his Flying Dutchman overture, which kicks off quite well. Oh, and of course there's Prokofiev's Knights' Dance from Romeo & Juliet - though I think Alan Sugar may have killed it.

Xabs · 06-03-2009 5:38pm

The Lacrimosa from Mozart's Requiem...?

tSubh Dearg · 07-03-2009 12:02am

Xabs wrote: »

The Lacrimosa from Mozart's Requiem...?

I wouldn't call the Lacrimosa dramatic. I think it's really more of a haunting piece. The Dies Irae in the same piece though is pretty dramatic, though possibly not as dramatic as Verdi's.

darjeeling · 07-03-2009 1:18am

I think Mozart's probably at his most ominous at the start of the Don Giovanni overture, though he still achieves the effect in a very restrained way.

The Lacrimosa is interesting. Have a listen and you can hear very clearly where Mozart left off, eight bars in. The movement starts with 'lacrimosa' (mournful) sung to a kind of sighing theme. Then there's a great ascending scale where the choir sing of 'guilty man rising from the dust to be judged', the music ultimately falling back on the second syllable of 'reus' (guilty). Immediately after, Sussmayr takes over the writing, but - unlike Mozart's - his music meanders along with the words smeared all over it. Makes you realise why Mozart was so good.

Dark Artist · 08-03-2009 2:34am

Hi. I'd suggest these songs, they seem to be what you're looking for and they're very short:

'Adyta: The Neverending Embrace - Prelude'
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0XOcGOl9J8Y

'Indigo'
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=65D6TeLGJwY

They're fairly dramatic orchestral pieces by the symphonic metal band Epica as intro tracks to their albums.

nesf · 12-03-2009 2:32pm

Another +1 for Mars, the Bringer of War by Holst

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pw0jvqx1mNU

Doshea3 · 15-03-2009 3:49pm

Scriabin's Prometheus, of course!

Lou.m · 18-03-2009 11:03pm

:-)

Prokofiev Montagues and Capulets from his ballet Romeo and Juliet!!!!

Hey where is the show??? Sounds interesting if ever you need a gorgeous assistant pm me MY DREAM JOB!!:P:P:P:P:P

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cFl__HHqSuc&feature=related

The one is above is just with piano and this one is full orchestra
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DUmq1cpcglQ

Marvinthefish · 18-03-2009 11:12pm

Dvorak's New World Symphony, 4th movement (for about the first minute) may be what you're looking for. Here's the Vienna Philharmonic & Herbert von Karajan.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G_JLUmgP574

rcaz · 18-03-2009 11:39pm

Part - Cantus in Memorium of Benjamin Britten
Stravinsky - Finale from The Firebird (May fall under 'too much hope', but will definitely make up for it under 'ridiculously epic')
Stravinsky - Lullaby from The Firebird (Maybe more suitably 'dark')

Heggy · 20-03-2009 12:36am

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SLuW-GBaJ8k

How has no one mentioned this yet?

Perhaps a little too much hope, but come on.

Or Beethoven's 5th Symphony?

Red Hand · 20-03-2009 2:25am

The marching cresento from 1st movement of the Leningrad symphony by Shostakovich. It starts off like a nice sweet tune but over 10 minutes morphs into an aggressively dark war machine.

For something shorter, try The Hut on Fowl's legs/Baba Yaga from Pictures at an exhibition by Mussorgksi. In fact they're a few tunes from Pictures at an exhibition that are dark, Catacombs and Schmuyle.

Ridiculously Epic and Dramatic Intro Music for my Show

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